Two months after the military came through the port of Tacoma, the military is at it again, this time using the small port of Aberdeen, Washington. We've pushed them away from Olympia and Tacoma and if we get it together we can make them never want to use the port of Aberdeen again. In every town the military has entered, hundreds of people have been radicalized after seeing the response of the police. This is an extremely valuable opportunity to spread our ideas, our energy and our dreams to a small, economically depressed lumber town.

People are meeting in Aberdeen today (Sunday) at 2pm to confront the war machine at the port in Aberdeen (directions to get there from olympia/I-5 are below). For Olympians, be at Harrison and Divison at 12:30 for a carpool. There is a march and action planned in the afternoon with more to happen later in the evening - so come whenever you can.

A quick recap from Saturday's events:

There were 50 people who showed up for a march and rally today. The rest of the day was followed by police surveilance and intimidation. There were several people who attended the rally who later went out to eat in Aberdeen. They walked to the dumpster at the restaurant they were at and noticed some toys next to it. One person played around with the toy gun he had found and very soon thereafter 8 cop cars descended upon them and harrased the people there. The cops on the scene said they were responding to a gun threat (which means they were closely watching the protesters and following them - trying to find any excuse to scare them and intimidate them).

In the evening, several people were invited inside an all-ages concert at the Polish Hall in Aberdeen to talk to kids about what's going on in the port. Undercover cop cars and regular cop cars were circling the block, and were parked outside of the Polish Hall watching people congregating outside the building. Right before the invited people were about to talk at the concert, the owner told them that Officer Slyter of the Aberdeen Police Dept. warned him that if he let them speak then he would send in a bunch of cops and shut down his building. He also said that the people who were going to speak (all from Olympia) were violent Eugene anarchists who want to destroy property. The notorious "Eugene Anarchists" were then followed by undercover and regular cop cars when they left the Polish Hall and were intimidated and harassed by cops and K-9 units with barking dogs...

Today, Strykers were seen entering the port. As of now there are two rows of six vehicles. Apache helicopters also landed in the port to be shipped out. We have no word as to when the boat will be in, but using the Port of Tacoma shipment as a reference, they will most likely be arriving during the next few days, waiting there and then being loaded onto the boat. So we basically have a week, perhaps a week and a half.

This clearly shows that the Aberdeen police are afraid of us. We are winning and they know it. The military isn't shipping through Tacoma and/or Olympia now for a reason. We need to show the police, government and military that we will not sit idly by when our ports are militarized and the cops repress us. We're not sure how long the military shipments will be in Aberdeen but we need to show them soon that this will be the last time the military uses Aberdeen's port.

Tear it down!

So far, the plan is this:

Meet at the corner of 28th and John Stevens Way (directions below) this Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm (until whenever). From there we can figure out what to do and those with plans can relate them to others. The cops have nicely set up a free speech zone for us which we should all kindly ignore. We are in a much better location than in Tacoma. The port is pressed up against neighborhoods (exactly on block away) and we are not trapped in a wire cage, giving us a lot more to work with.

Please bring every one you know. If you HAVE to pick one of the days to come, then come on SUNDAY! Things will be continuing after Sunday, but this will be our first burst of energy. More details will be sent out when they arrive. Hope you all can come down.

Directions:

From I-5 take exit 104 into Highway 101.

Follow 101 until it merges with Highway 8 (there should be signs for Aberdeen near the split)

Follow until you reach Aberdeen.

After you enter the city, continue down main road through downtown. 101 suddenly appears downtown in the form of the main road (just look for 101 signs). Follow it until you reach 28th.

Take left on 28th and follow until you hit the water.

We will be meeting at the end of 28th. There is an observation tower there and a public boat launch. We will gather there and decide what to do.